Calvin Newborn is the kind of journeyman player who doesn’t so much break new ground as distill the sounds that blossom in the music’s regional stomping grounds. Newborn, the brother, collaborator, and biographer of noted pianist Phineas Newborn, was born, raised, and received his music tutelage in Memphis. His father was a drummer who led a band that included both his sons, the quiet Phineas and the extroverted Calvin.

The pianist, though, is the brother who went on to secure a bit of fame. Each of the brothers was touched by tragedy—the pianist with mental illness and then a serious assault and Calvin with a drug habit. Still, they retained and celebrated the soulful sounds of their hometown. Calvin exercised them in a variety of contexts, from the expected—sessions with his brother, Lionel Hampton, and Jimmy Forrest—to the unexpected—Sun Ra and country star Charlie Rich in his jazz piano player guise. Calvin was a friend and admirer of Elvis Presley and early collaborator with B.B. King. As his new CD New Born demonstrates, he’s a fine, bluesy guitarist.

This is best heard on the blues tracks, his brother’s “Newborn Blues” and his own “After Hours Blues”. His lines seem to salve the sting of the blues with generous dollops of honey. He meditates on the blues, unhurried. Charlie Wood’s organ swells provide fitting backup on these pieces. That sense of soulful resignation imbues all the tracks here—the wistful reading of “Lush Life”, as well as the hard bop blowing tunes that make up the rest of the program. They’re originals that could have found a happy home in the Jazz Messengers book.

Newborn has assembled his own band of messengers to bring his tunes to life, including former Blakey sideman Donald Brown, a keeper of the Memphis piano tradition. On the closing “Blues & Beyond”, Brown offers up a tumbling two-fisted statement. Trumpeter Scott Thompson provides some puckish, to-the-point blowing, especially on the opening “When Kingdom Comes—Sho’ Nuff” and “Restorations”. Their cooking stirs up a healthy serving of the musical equivalent of Memphis barbecue.